The invention relates to an assembly for evacuating the overflow from a canalization system. Particularly, the invention relates to a portable gutter assembly associated with water and sewage canalization systems.
As homeowners and those who work in and around certain types of institutions, such as retirement homes, convalescent homes, and the like, are aware, toilet bowls may become blocked for any number of reasons, and a person who repeatedly flushes such a toilet will cause it to flood. This flooding may cause serious problems, particularly for homeowners since professional help is not immediately available and for institutions, such as homes for the aged, since older people may slip and fall, or be subjected to diseases by such flooding waters.
Many patents have disclosed mechanical and electrically controlled water overflow devices to prevent the overflowing of toilets. Examples of such patents include U.S. Pat. No. 4,203,173 to Morris et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,444 to Orszullok, U.S. Pat. No. 5,731,758 to Suttlemyre et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,417 to Pondelick et al. These patents show that a system that detects the rise of water in a toilet bowl to a preset high-level, and then signals a valve unit to cause it to close and prevent further water delivery to the toilet system is old and well known in the art. However, the systems disclosed in these patents tend to be complicated and expensive, and fail to disclose or teach a low-cost and simple device that is mounted on or near a rim of a toilet bowl to provide a mechanically-simple structure capable of effectively preventing flooding of the area surrounding a toilet bowl. Furthermore, these patents fail to teach a system that can be detachably installed on existing toilet systems.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a gutter system that can be removably mounted on a liquid- and/or debris-conveying system. Also desirable is a cost-efficient gutter system having a simple mechanical structure.
To attain this, the inventive device for a receptacle, which is traversed by a flowable substance drained through a discharge outlet, includes a housing detachably attached to the receptacle and having a channel receiving the substance in case of the blocked discharge outlet.
According to one aspect of the invention, an inventive gutter, mounted along a rim of the receptacle traversed by the substance, has a housing detachably mounted to the receptacle and provided with a U-shaped channel. The channel is adapted to receive overflow of the substance and to deliver it to at least one reservoir, which is in flow communication with the channel to store the evacuated substance.
In accordance with another inventive aspect, the gutter has a support removably and sealably attached to the receptacle. The support and housing are detachably engaged to one another so it is possible to periodically remove the housing and to clean debris from the housing.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, an evacuation or gutter assembly used in conjunction with a toilet bowl has a housing mounted to the bowl and extending around the bowl""s rim. The housing has a channel receiving the overflow of the substance from the bowl""s opening to guide it along an evacuation path toward a reservoir.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide an evacuation assembly that can be detachably mounted to a receptacle traversed by a flowable substance to guide away the overflow of the substance in case of a blocked discharge opening of the receptacle.
Another object of the invention is to provide a cost-efficient evacuation assembly that has a simple structure which can be easily installed on and dismounted from a receptacle traversed by a substance.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an evacuation assembly that can be used with different types of toilets.
The above and other object, features and advantages will become more readily apparent from the specific description accompanied by the following drawings, in which: